BIO: James COWDEN, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, page 178.
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  COWDEN, JAMES, son of Matthew Cowden, was born June 16, 1737, in 
Paxtang township, Lancaster, now Dauphin, county, Pa.; died October 10, 
1810, in Paxtang.  He was brought up on his father's farm, enjoying, 
however, the advantages of that early education of those pioneer times, 
which, among the Scotch-Irish settlers, was remarkable comprehensive 
and ample.  Apart from this, he was well-grounded in the tenets of the 
Westminster Confession, which among our pious ancestry formed a part of 
the instruction given to all.  Until the thunders of the Revolution 
rolled toward the Susquehanna, Mr. Cowden remained on the paternal 
acres, busily engaged in farming. At the outset, he was a strong 
advocate for active defensive measures, and in favor of independence.  
He was one of the leading spirits at the meeting at Middletown, June 9, 
1774, of which Col. James Burd was chairman, and whose action, in 
conjunction with those of Hanover, nerved the people of Lancaster in 
their patriotic resolves.  Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Cowden 
and the young men of his neighborhood took measures toward raising a 
battalion of associators, of which Col. James Burd was in command, and 
a company of which was intrusted to Captain Cowden. His company, 
although not belonging to the Pennsylvania Line, was, nevertheless, in 
several  campaigns, and did faithful service at Fort Washington, in the 
Jerseys, at Brandywine, and Germantown, and in the war on the northern 
and western frontiers, defending them from the attack of the savage 
Indian and treacherous Tory.  At the close of the war Captain Cowdon 
returned to his farm.  Under the Constitution of 1790, he was appointed 
the justice of the peace for the district of Lower Paxtang, April 
10,1793, which he held up to the time he was commissioned by Governor 
Thomas Mifflin one of the associate judges of the county of Dauphin, 
October 2, 1795, an office he filled acceptably and creditably.  In 
1809 he was chosen presidential elector, and was an ardent supporter of 
Madison. Judge Cowden married, March 20, 1777, by Rev. John Elder, Mary 
Crouch, b. 1757, in Virginia; died October 14, 1848, in Paxtang 
township, Dauphin county, Pa., and buried in Paxtang church graveyard; 
daughter of James and Hannah Crouch.